Jeff Gorton reveals the Montreal Canadiens' intentions for their next acquisition

November 28 will mark the first anniversary of the hiring of Jeff Gorton as the Canadiens' vice-president of hockey operations. Gorton took over from Marc Bergevin, who also held the same position, as well as the team's general manager.

It is safe to say that the hiring of Gorton marked the beginning of a new era in the Habs organization and was followed by the appointments of Chantal Machabée as vice-president of communications and Kent Hughes as general manager and Martin St-Louis as head coach.

One of the new values that the team's new staff wanted to establish was transparency with the media community, an aspect that was clearly not the strength of the previous management.

Since his dismissal last November, Marc Bergevin has been subjected to all sorts of criticism, as if everything he did as general manager was now good for the trash can. He was the one who got Nick Suzuki from the Golden Knights and he also led the Habs to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021. You know, some Canadiens fans have a short memory.

In fact, as Marc-Olivier Cook of Danslescoulisses.com reports, Jeff Gorton wanted to set the record straight with Bergevin's many critics. During the broadcast of former CH tough guy Chris Nilan's Raw Knuckles Podcast, Gorton mentioned that people have been far too critical of him since his firing.

Gorton makes no secret of the fact that when he arrived in Montreal, the Habs were already stuck with the salary cap. But it is not a point to Bergevin because he was aware that the team had just made it to the finals and it is normal to see the payroll of a team that has just gone through it being so high.

And it's not Bergevin's fault either that there have been numerous injuries, COVID-19 cases within the team and players who have performed poorly in 2021-2022. While he realizes there is still a lot of work to be done to rebuild the team, Gorton has nothing but respect for what Marc Bergevin has accomplished for this team since 2012 and it shows the solidarity between general managers in the NHL.

Recall that before joining the Habs, Gorton was the general manager of the New York Rangers, a team that rebuilt faster than expected, by the way.

Finally, Gorton added that the organization's next objective is indeed to go after an offensive defenseman.

To listen to Jeff Gorton's appearance on the Raw Knuckles Podcast, click below.